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Monday, August 29, 2016

Beyoncéperformed at the 2016 VMA Awards. She had controversial undertones in her performance, with dancers circling around her, and one by one fell to the ground as red lights pulsated beneath them. People analyzing this say that this performance represents police brutality in the U.S. However, the Black Lives Matter movement is making the race problem worse in America. The attack in Akron, Ohio is just one example of how it has gotten out of hand. Read about it here.

Rudy Giuliani on Fox & Friends

Rudy Giuliani was not amused on Fox & Friends. He said this of the video clip of the Beyoncé performance:"You're asking the wrong person...because I have fun uncles who were police officers, two cousins who were, one who died in the line of duty. I ran the largest and best police department in the world: The New York City Police Department, and I save more black lives than any of those people you saw on stage by reducing crime and particularly homicide by 75% of which, may four or five thousand were African-American young people who are alive today because of the policies I put in effect that weren't in effect for 35 years."Read more about the Rudy Giuliani response in this eonline.com article.

Friday, August 26, 2016

Asylum Seekers Leaving Sweden in Record Number

The Local se (Sweden's news website in English) has reported that a record amount of people seeking asylum have left Sweden this year. Approximately 10,665 people between January to August 2016, according to the Swedish migration authority. This was published in the Sydsvenskan here.

Why are so many asylum seekers leaving Sweden?A new law starting June 1 created the following issues for asylum seekers:

The introduction of photo ID border checks

Temporary residence seeker permits issued

Answer: The new law has made it challenging for asylum seekers to stay in Sweden.
However, Techfugees, a nonprofit that is a tech community created in response to refugees, has helped refugees. Read about that here.

Skilled IT people coming to Sweden as refugees were looking for work, and tech companies have embraced the influx of professionals through Sync Accelerator - founded by Johan Engstrom of Stockholm.

Sweden Paying Asylum Seekers to Leave Country?

Townhall.com reports in this article that Sweden is paying migrants to leave the country, stating that "potential migrants are leaving Sweden...and offered monetary payouts to people who voluntarily returned to their home countries."

Millions of Swedish notes in Circulation Must be Turned in by end of August 2016

Ending in June 2016, Swedish 20's, 50's, and 100's were no longer recognized as currency in Sweden. Banks will allow them to be deposited into their bank accounts. After Aug. 31, only the central bank of Sweden in Riksbank will allow them to be exchanged, but will also be charged a fee. 41 million in bank notes of approximately 1.3 billion kronor are estimated to still be in circulation, which is about $155M in US currency.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

New details released on the Star Trek TV show, called Star Trek: Discovery on CBS in 2017. Information about the show reveals that the lead character will be a woman that is a lieutenant commander, before the Original Star Trek series takes place, featuring Captain Kirk and Spock.

This EW article points out that this isn't the first time that Star Trek has has a leading lady on the show. Star Trek Voyager, airing from 1995 to 2001 had a female captain -- Kathryn Janeway.

The writer-producer Bryan Fuller talks about the role of this female lieutenant will be diverse, and very likely African American. He says that he spoke to the first black woman in space, Mae Jemison, to gain inspiration for casting this lead character in the new Star Trek: Discovery television series on CBS in 2017.

The COO of CBS expects Star Trek: Discovery in 2017 to get at least 15 million viewers for the television premiere event.

Star Trek Discovery Television Series to be Diverse in Many Ways

What will make this character interesting is that she is not the Captain, so she will have a different perspective than previous Star Trek television series.

In addition to this, Fuller has made it very clear that "absolutely we're having a gay character," noting that Bryan Fuller himself is openly gay. There will also be robots.

Whoopi Goldberg has gone on record to say that she would love to bring her Star Trek: The Next Generation character, Guinan, to the new Star Trek: Discovery television series.

Fun Fact: The new Star Trek television series will take place approximately 10 years before Captain Kirk's notable five-year mission.

Monday, August 01, 2016

Alphabet and GlaxoSmithKline Joint Venture: Galvani Bioelectronics

Search powerhouse Google parent Alphabet and pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline are partnering to create Galvani Bioelectronics. This joint venture will be located in the UK. GlaxoSmithKline will own 55% of Galvani Biolectronics, while Alphabet (Google's parent company), will own 45% of Galvani Bioelectronics. The tentative date that Galvani Bioelectronics will have electrical medical implant treatments ready for the regulatory agency to review, will be the year 2023.

Announcement from GlaxoSmithKline and Alphabet

On 01 August 2016, GlaxoSmithKline and Alphabetannounced their new joint venture into electrical medical implants by creating Galvani Bioelectronics. The goal is to "harness" electrical signals in the body to treat chronic diseases. Bioelectronics is still relatively new in the medical field, and Alphabet and GlaxoSmithKline want to be on the forefront of new medical discoveries (although GlaxoSmithKline has been active in this field since 2012). "New" meaning that very little progress has been made in this field as far as developing practical medical treatments for the human body. Alphabet's company Verily has expertise in the miniaturization of low power electronics, which is why this is such a strategic partnership.

The main headquarters for this joint venture will be in Stevenage in the UK, and research will also be conducted at Verily's facility in San Francisco, CA.

The joint venture between Alphabet and GlaxoSmithKline will produce miniature electrical medical implants to treat a wide array of diseases in the human body. Think of a TENS unit, only smaller, and inside the body. Galvani Bioelectronics will be funded with about $712M over the next seven years.

Fun Fact: The inspiration of the company name Galvani Bioelectronics is from Luigi Aloisio Galvani, who was an 18th century scientist that first explored this field of bioelectronics.

In Other News...

In other news, Tesla has announced that it is buying SolarCity for $2.6B being that they have similar synergy in the renewable energy industry.